The Wiccan Princess
by Gothika Angel01
Summary: The Earth smolders in ruin, and the Lady Horseman of the Apocalypse charged with hunting down the Seven Deadly Sins. However, every great mission has a side quest or two; and that tree in the distance sure looks curious...


**Hey, if there can be a magic zombie with a flying top hat, there can be a magical set of human children! Who says a witch can't really be magical? Come on, with the power of imagination, anything is possible!**

 **possible one-shooter. I may upload another chapter if I feel up to it! Who's excited for Darksiders 3?! I based this little short story in that time set as the beginning of the game, but I know so little about it, i just had to wing it. I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but the Witch children and that cat.**

* * *

That cat looked stranger, the closer and closer Fury got. Were those eyes pink?

The Horseman stood at the lip of an old rooftop. She must have been sixty stories high by now, and could see a great deal of the landscape from here. Again, the little skinny thing meowed insistently at her, and approached. She had seen this same black cat earlier, when she had arrived on the ravaged Earth, and was surprised to find an animal like that alive after all this time. It had approached her and rubbed against her legs, meowing over and over. When the Lady Horseman leaned over to stroke it, the cat would dart off and call to her.

Fury recalled how weird that cat's fur felt, even to her armored fingers. There was some sort of magic protecting that animal.

She hadn't followed it earlier. After this little excursion with the "dreaded" Lord of the Flies, she ascended to the surface and decided to get a better look at her surroundings. She could see the sides of buildings, covered mostly in their green overgrowth. The sun was at its highest point in the sky, the sky was blue; everything was oddly pretty for the ravaged planet Earth. Off in the distance, she saw trees with leaves of a pink and blue hue. The cat was now bumping its head against the Lady Horseman's calves, meowing and purring.

"What in blazes do you want, cat? I've nothing for you, and I don't want you!" the nephilim scorned mockingly as she leaned over, stroking the cat again. That strange magic made her fingers itch through her gauntlets.

As it had previously done, the feline bolted down the street and started calling. It wanted her to follow. Now, why would a Horseman of the Apocalypse follow some strange black cat she didn't even-

 _Wow, I'm already walking forward._

Gee, the demons sure left this place in a scrap, didn't they? She quietly mused to herself as she observe the surrounding terrain, wondering how fast these plants must have rooted here after Ulthane drove most of the demonic influence away. Hell, he did such a good job, she hadn't seen any beasts roaming around for a few miles. Where were they, anyways? Normally those types of monsters take up root anywhere they can, but this place was different. Fury figured that Ulthane's magic was what she felt on that cat.

As Fury made her way back the way she came, she noticed a strange drawing on the front of a long rotted building, she happened to notice some small and familiar sigils drawn into the walls with what looked like blood. It wasn't angel blood, or demon blood, so who's could it be? She hadn't noticed them on the tedious hike into the town. Upon further inspection, she noted that these little wards all over this particular street. She sensed strong celestial magic ahead, but what angel would be closing off an entire street for? Hellguard Checkpoint?A hidden passageway inaccessible to demons? Fury was getting more and more puzzled the further she wandered.

She continued on this path, and that magic presence grew stronger, like a pull at the arcane mystics the nephilim mage was so in tuned to. Trees seemed to grow thicker and taller in this place, and the street seemed to go on forever. In patches up ahead, some along the road, some up on the crumbling walls, pink and blue flowers grew in lush bundles and great numbers. Fury swore she hear the faintest wind chimes. Butterflies began floating and flitting by, one tried to land on Fury's cheek, but she wasn't having any of that, now. Certainly, the angel who warded this area was a powerful mystic, indeed! For flowers and fir to grow in a place of demonic incursion? Why, that's close enough to a Maker's handywork.

Fury couldn't help but be a little bit awed at the sight. Now, about a mile and a half deep into this place of pink peace and butterflies, roses and blue lilac bloomed from everywhere, dotted with the occasional white and blue rose. Butterflies seemed to come from nowhere, and they were everywhere. At this point, Fury couldn't really shoo them all away.* They landed on her shoulders, her face, even got caught in the smokey wisps of the Horseman's hair. She even tried shaking them out. No good.

She took a few steps past this odd-looking tree, and the butterflies immediately fled. She quickly realized that those trees, Rowan trees, strangely enough, were the barriers between the safety of this acute celestial magic, and the rest of Haven. How peculiar. Rowan trees, growing in an area like this? Who put those there? Just looking at them made the nephilim's skin itch; powerful angelic magic, for sure.

On and on the Horseman continued on, down the street, closer and closer to where she had seen the top of that pink tree. It had disappeared behind an enormous building, half eaten by catastrophe, half by green foliage. She surmised, given it looked like the tree had been growing within the walls of that still standing half skyscraper, that she would have to find a way to get inside. The majority of the street around her grew more densely occupied by bushels of thorns, and less occupied by roses and butterflies. She looked on ahead, and about two miles deep, a wall of thorns jutted forth from the ground below. It looked a good twenty feet from where the Horseman stood.

 _Great, some gatekeeper's lament I'll have to find?_ The Lady Horseman thought as she dragged on.

She remained alert, however. She wouldn't let this place catch her off guard. Hand on her hip, she approached the empty brazier in the road, along with the now towering wall of thistles and were runes scratched into every thistle! Every branch! God, this must've taken hours! Fury examined as far as she could, where the brambles ended at the Rowan trees. They stood planted firmly on both sides. Although on the other side of the building, to the East side, was a sheer drop off about a hundred feet to the remainder of the city. There were demons down there, a few Legion Soldiers. So what was keeping them down there, and not up here? These runes?

That prickling itch was now a feverish blush all across the Horseman's skin, even her hair began to look a bit pink.

Some of those little scratches were alien to the Horseman's knowledge. Some were definitely angelic, she was fluent in both their ancient language and written word. These other ones, though, they were strange. Almost like they were some sort of home-brewed magic of a young Maker. She tried to read off as much as she could along the expanse of the wall where she could see, and almost missed the little hint right in it's center.

Someone had placed a piece of paper right in a bunch of thistles. How could she have almost missed that? Maybe this just wasn't her day...

 _Hold up-_

Why was there a message right there in the open? Was the entity behind all of this expecting someone to come along and find this? They were probably setting this place aside for any human survivors that came by. Fury had to laugh at herself for thinking that. After all this, how could any humans have survived? Wishful thinking was one thing, but this is a humiliatingly adorable waste of time for an angel.

Inscribed on the paper was common alphabet, one Fury had seen many times was written in black ink, in neat print:

 ** _"Bide within the law you must, in perfect love and perfect trust. Live you must and let to live, fairly take and fairly give. For tread the circle thrice about to keep unwelcome spirits out. To bind the spell well every time, let the spell be said in rhyme. Light of eye and soft of touch, speak ye little listen much. Honor the old ones in deed and in name, let love and light be our guides again. Deosil go by the waxing moon chanting out the joyful tune. Widdershins go when the moon doth wane, and the werewolf howls at the dreaded wolfbane-"*_**

She re-read the passage over and over again, flipping the page over only to find in less pretty, hastily written print:

 ** _"This Book Belongs To:_ _Sim_ _ó_ _ne_ _"_**

Simóne. Not any angelic name Fury had ever heard of. Matter of fact, she was sure it wasn't an angel's name. She looked around, from left to right. The cat had disappeared. She could hear the creature calling, but she couldn't see as to where he ran off to. Clutching the note in a gauntleted fist, she looked around. Surely there must have been a book that went to the rest of this little riddle. If she could find the book, she could find a way in.

So, Fury went all the way back down the street, where the Rowan trees come to an end and the path to the city began. She searched through the bushes, around the trees, in the trees. It wasn't until the Lady Horseman came across that building she had seen earlier,the one covered in strange sigils and bloody runes. This time, however, she meandered inside, having to crouch low to get between the fallen rubble and steel beams to actually get inside the structure. Surprisingly enough, everything looked decently intact in here. The walls didn't crumble, there were still some solid glass in the windows. It even smelled nice in here; like dust and peppermint. At her feet, Fury stood on a dusty old purple door.* The front door, no doubt.

With a start, she realized the front door was halfway enchanted. Blessed, mostly, but charged in a way so not to let anybody with ill will through. The door had some sort of pull to it, something that tugged in Fury's outer energy, like the way gravity constantly pulls one toward the ground. She took note of that. She looked around the entryway, noting only stairs, rubble, refuse, dirt, and more runes. She slowly crept upstairs, mindful not to be too careful. When she peeked over the rails and onto the dinged and damaged wooden floors, there was nothing.

But an alter in the corner. Bingo. The Lady Horseman easily shuffled over and took a closer look. It looked like the simplest place of worship Fury had ever seen. Just a plain jade table with an inscription of a pentacle between two crescent moons, a small leather-bound book with the Triquetra branded into its cover. That was a symbol that the nephilim recognized. She was certain she had seen it before. She had used that sigil a number of times herself, and knew it had powerful angelic roots. So that begged the question- Who was placing angelic runes all over the place?

Fury sat cross-legged in front of the altar, grabbing the book and placing it in her pal. Funny thing, it fought her to open. There were no bindings or locks on the book, but that Triquetra wouldn't let the Lady open it! Fury was impressed that someone could charge a book with enough power to fight _her_ will! She sat there for a good fifteen minutes _fighting_ with this book. If anyone could have seen this, Fury would have been humiliated! This book was putting up a fight with a god forsaken Horseman, and _winning!*_

Finally she got the damned thing to open, and sure as fate, that same handwriting decorated the crimson stained pages of that little tome. She brought out the page from the brambles and placed it directly in the front page. Fit like a bloody glove. At this point, she was practically beaming with curiosity, and Fury began reading the passages that followed.

 ** _"When the ladies moon is new, kiss the hand to her times two. When the moon rides at her peak, then your heart's desire seek. Heed the North wind's mighty gale, lock the door and trim the sail. When the wind blows from the East, expect the new and set the feast. When the wind comes from the South, love will kiss you on the mouth. When the wind whispers from the West, all hearts will find peace and rest. Nine Woods in the cauldron go, burn them fast and burn them slow._ _Birch in the fire goes to represent what the lady knows. Oak in the forest towers with might in the firewood brings the gods insight. Rowan is a tree of power, causing life and magic to flower. Willows at the waterside stand ready to help us to the Summerland. Hawthorne is burned to purify and draw faerie to your eye. Hazel- the tree of wisdom and learning adds its strength to the bright fire burning. White are the flowers of the apple tree that brings us fruits of fertility. Grapes grow upon the vine giving us both joy and wine. Fir does mark the Evergreen to represent immortality seen. Elder is the lady's tree burn it not, or cursed you'll be."_**

The Lady Horseman read on from there, reading some of the Witch's spells, barriers, wards, and potions. She found an interesting passage about invoking an angel and other celestial things, but The more and more she read, the harder it became for her to see, almost like her vision were clouded with tears that wouldn't fall, so they just kept on welling in her eyes. She went blind after about half an hour. She did see a name, however; The angel this Witch had invoked.

"Ah-ha!" Fury exclaimed as she fell back onto the floor, gripping her forehead. After reading so much, she was starting to get a headache. "So there was a witch at large! Communing with an angel, no less. But who's Sariel? I've never heard that name..."

She tried to think of where she had seen this sigil in association to any celestial known as Sariel, but could think of none. She tried to open the book again to read more, but it wouldn't budge. Her head still hurt just looking at it, and decided enough was enough. She had a feeling she knew what she had to do. That brazier in the middle of the road must have been magic!

" _Merwoow!~_ " came a shrieking cat from behind, startling the Horseman.

She closed the book and glared at the little beast over her shoulder. "So you must be the familiar, huh? You in cahoots with the Witch?" She asked scornfully as it approached.

The cat rubbed up against her hips and armor where she sat, purring and meowing at her. The little moon on its head was whiter and brighter now. It looked sleeker and cleaner than it had earlier. It actually stepped into the Lady Horseman's lap, purring away. Pink eyes flicked allover the altar's surface, the cat sniffed about,and meowed at her again.

"I think I got it, cat. You stuck out here, and your Witch is in there?" She asked, pointing out the window. She stroked the cat's ears, and it purred louder.

She lifted the cat up and stood up, composing herself. She decided she should bring the Witch's book with her, and return it to her. Since she read her book, she should at least be decent enough to get it back to that powerful witch. That would also be a great way to avoid being cursed for opening a warded book without the proper opening. So she set out to collect nine boughs of leaves from each tree mentioned and place them into the brazier. Perhaps Then the magic would allow her to pass and get to the bottom of this whole little enigma.

She made her way downstairs and outside, going back to the gate of thorns. The cat followed, staying a few paces in front and a few to the right. Butterflies swarmed the nephilim as she reappeared outside, almost like they were happy to see her. It was annoying. She listened closely to the sounds of what she imagined to be wind chimes. She swore she could hear them, somewhere far off from here, but where? It was almost as unnerving as it was relaxing. So, she wandered across the expanse of this garden-like place tucked away within Haven; Oak, berries of Rowan, Willow, Hawthorn boughs, Fir, and Hazel. The trees with the bright pink leaves she left alone, assuming they were the Elder trees the book mentioned. She remembered to look for any apple trees, in case the flowers were necessary for the ritual as well. She couldn't quite tell.

It was quite a sight, really. A Horseman of the Apocalypse running around with butterflies and a cat collecting flowers and branches for some puzzle. Fury actually looked kind of nice with butterflies and little white flowers all over her. One could almost forget what a deadly Lady she was.

She brought everything back to the brazier in only an under an hour, and when she was finally sure she had everything ready, she summoned a spark of arcane fire to light it. Immediately when the magical purple fire she produced touched the Witch's boughs and flowers, the brazier erupted in flames, slowly turning a bright blue, not so much like hellfire, but pretty close. She watched as the flames crackled and flickered with powerful energy, casting fat embers and bright sparks everywhere. Fury and the cat both backed away from it all, the Lady Horseman having to shield her eyes. The wall of thorns caught up in those flames, and the sound of wind chimes suddenly became deafening. They rang out from all over, making the Lady Horseman's ears ring for a good long while afterwards.

The thorns all collapsed, but the bright blue fire remained. The cat had no problem crossing the divide, however it was a bit difficult for Fury herself to get through. It was like there was a wall of ice in front of her, but so thin, she couldn't see it. She forced her gauntlets in first, tearing a hole right through the powerful ward. She had to remind herself to congratulate the Witch for whatever efficient matters were taken to keep outside forces out of her hideout, for even a member one of the Counsel's own couldn't pass through these damned things on the first try. It humbled her, to a degree.

So, the nephilim followed the black cat even further down the street, straight to that half-skyscraper she had seen earlier. The base of that entire structure seemed held together by pink vines dotted with blue flowers and all sorts of other foliage that sprang up thanks to the Witch's influence. The pull of celestial arcana was so strong here, Fury could taste it on her tongue; like sweet ozone. It was making her whole body tingle, like her naked flesh were covered in cobwebs. She definitely never felt this strangeness before, she knew the celestial magic at play here, but something about it was alien to her. That magic shouldn't give her that prickling on the skin, angel magic was either soft, or searing heat. There was no in between.

So why was this different?

The building now towered over her. Those pink and green vines seemed to be everywhere, up on the walls, in the trees, in the road, holding up traffic lights, smothering cars. Birds and butterflies flitted about in more controlled numbers, here, and it was unusually warm all of the sudden. Fury listened to the birds, the crickets, the wind through the trees, and again, she heard that strange chiming. It didn't sound like wind chimes as much anymore, not from this distance. Now it sounded more like _music_. Like someone was playing an instrument somewhere close by. _The Witch_. The cat began bounding for the gaping hole in the front of the structure concealed mostly by hanging vines. The closer and closer Fury got, the louder that music was getting. It seemed the cat knew exactly who and what all that was, and the Lady Horseman followed.

The interior was empty, save for the enormous tree that grew smack in the center of its ground floor. Whatever may have been in this building before the Apocalypse. it had been scraped dry by the incursion. The floor had been torn asunder and pink and blue shrubbery grew in massive numbers. The only thing that really stood out was the enormous dark tree with the bright pink leaves. The sun had almost made its way across the entire sky, but the area around the tree remained illuminated with a white light all on its own.

The music was coming from somewhere in the tree. Someone was playing something in the tree. She could hear it clearly now, it sounded like an mbirra.* Even as she looked, there looked like a lantern dangling from one of the tree branches. Something about the light of that thing made the Lady Horseman... uncomfortable.

The cat had already made it to the tree at this point, and started meowing and circling. The music stopped, and Fury heard a young girl's voice call out. "Sariel! There you are, boy!"

A figure clad in what looked like sky blue robes slipped down from the tree, leaving a rope ladder in her wake. She took with her, the hanging lantern, and set in on the ground before her. Fury could see little more than an exposed part of her face, as she wore a similarly toned blue head scarf wrapped around her head. She bent over and the cat, who circled twice, jumping into her arms. Fury remained at a distance; she wasn't able to move any closer. Her stomach was starting to feel sick, her palms were sweaty, and her hands shook. It was because she was never invited into this place, and she was poking around without permission.

"Did you bring Jamie back with you, Sarie-" The girl started before her gaze caught sight of the Lady Horseman, silencing her.

The Witch. She was a human being. And she was a _child_ , no less! She couldn't have been any older than twenty years old! Maybe not even that! Fury didn't believe that this thing could have possibly had the knowledge and power to charge such powerful wards to keep her out. She was a baby, really. But a pretty little thing. Dark skin, pretty eyes; she was indeed, very young.

Where there was surprise, and what may have been fear in her dark eyes, now there was concern. There was realization, and the Witch's voice suddenly carried much farther and much louder than it had before.

"Lady Horseman? How'd you find me?"

* * *

 **Well, I think I'm gonna leave it here for now as a cliffhanger. Like I said, I might write more, but It depends on if I can think of any better material for it!**

 **1\. Can anyone else imagine an annoyed Horseman attempting to escape a horde of pretty pink butterflies? I can.**

 **2\. Props if you know what this is~! ;)**

 **3\. teeheehee~**

 **4\. witchwitchwitchwitchajdfkhgv~**

 **5\. watch?v=Z3b1bz_9gEo &list=LLC4zXzPZX7zJzkrH1aM1Qmg&index=22 It's a musical Instrument. Sounds like, "the soul of a happy baby."**


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